It is only a divine arm that can lift our burden, only a divine expiation that can take away sin, and a divine friend alone that can win our confidence when conscience truly awakes and guilt is realized. It is well for us. therefore, that in this matter there is no room for misgiving; for the testimony of Scripture to the divine greatness of Jesus is as full as it is express. Peter said, “We believe and are sure that thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God." Thomas, bowing adoringly at his feet, exclaimed, “My Lord, and my God." In writing to the Romans, Paul says, "Christ came, who is over all, God blessed for ever;" and in the opening chapter of John's Gospel we have this testimony, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made...And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.)" Finally, he himself said, “I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty." Had Christ been anything less than these words reveal, he would have failed in sufficiency for his great redemptive work. It was his to conquer sin, swallow up death, and put to flight all the powers of darkness; and who could do this but the Living, Holy, and Almighty One?

Nor is he greater in might than in love and compassionate tenderness. "Though rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that ye through his poverty might be rich." Taking the form of a servant, he came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many; yea, to be their everlasting joy and portion.

When his end was near, Dr. Grierson of Errol, after various psalms and portions of Scripture had been read to him, asked his children to conclude by singing the hymn, "Safe in the Arms of Jesus." After they had sung it, he said, "I feel I am safe there. Death has no power nor fear for me at all now." And when told that it was drawing near the morning, he exclaimed, "Oh, let me go, for the day breaketh! I feel Jesus very near

by me.-Dear Lord, let me go!'

""

In him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily.-COL. ii. 9.

But unto the Son he saith, Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever: a sceptre of righteousness is the sceptre of thy kingdom.-HEB. i. 8.

April 21.

WE ARE NEVER SO REALLY RICH AS WHEN

RICH IN LIBERALITY.

UST as there are varied degrees in faith and love, so

JUST

also are there in liberality. In nothing are some so defective as in this grace. It is the weakest point in their character. They can receive, but they cannot dispense. Even when they do give something, yet, considering their means, it is little compared with what they might give, and with what others give who are similarly placed; and little, also, when compared with what they readily expend on themselves. Above all, it is little when compared with what the necessities of a perishing world demand, and with what the Lord in the riches of his grace has bestowed upon them. There are many, however, who, to the praise of his grace, exhibit a widely different spirit. Unlike those who give little out of their much,

they give much out of their little to the cause of Christ and his people.

This was the case in a very remarkable degree with the early Macedonian churches. Their liberality was unusually great; for the apostle tells us that, "in a great trial of affliction, the abundance of their joy and their deep poverty abounded unto the riches of their liberality." When in straits and affliction, we are apt to become selfish, and to think of no one's sorrow but our own. But it was not so with them. Deep as was their poverty, it never found mention, nor did it restrain by jot or tittle the riches of their liberality.

Not unfrequently, when men grow rich in means they become poor in charity, and the heart that was narrow before becomes narrower still. It was not without reason, therefore, that the apostle said, "Charge them that are rich in this world, that they be not high-minded, nor trust in uncertain riches, but in the living God, who giveth us richly all things to enjoy." The thought of this might well moderate our thirst for riches on the one hand, and intensify our desire for fuller grace on the other. Uncertain things should never be chief things with us; for that would be to grasp the shadow and let go the substance. Nor should we fail to minister to others in their times of need, lest that should befall us which is written, There is that withholdeth more than is meet, and it tendeth to poverty." "Proportionate thy charity to the strength of thy estate," says a quaint old writer, “lest God proportion thy estate to the weakness of thy charity.”

Wherefore, as ye abound in every thing, in faith, and utterance, and knowledge, and in all diligence, and in your love to us, see that ye abound in this grace also.-2 COR. viii. 7.

To do good and to communicate forget not: for with such sacrifices God is well pleased.-HEB. xiii. 16.

The disciples, every man according to his ability, determined to send relief unto the brethren which dwelt in Judea.-ACTS xi. 29.

April 22.

TRUE FOLLOWING OF THE LORD.

THE time of their utterance gives additional force to

the words of our Lord to Peter, "What is that to thee? follow thou me;" for it was after his death and resurrection they came from his lips, and when, therefore, his claims on the love and loyalty of his disciple were stronger than ever. Though it was to Peter only the words "Follow me" were addressed in the first instance, they are now emphatically spoken to all; and it is not more our duty than our privilege to give earnest heed to them.

In carrying out the injunction, our aim should be to follow Jesus as Matthew did-immediately. As soon as his Lord said to him, "Follow me," "he arose," we are told, “and left all, and followed him." The heartily loyal never linger. Like Caleb, also, we should follow him fully. Uninfluenced by the many around who would neither believe nor obey, he cleaved to the Lord with purpose of heart, and held on resolutely, even to the end. And as he honoured God, God in turn honoured him, and enriched him to the full with every blessing. "All that have Caleb's spirit," says Matthew Henry, "follow the Lord universally—without dividing; uprightly—without dissembling; cheerfully-without disputing; and constantly -without declining." Above all, we should follow as the hundred forty and four thousand did, of whom it is written,

"These are they which follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth." Those who do so ask no questions, and make no conditions, but unreservedly follow wherever the Saviour leads.

This is no easy thing to do; for there is with all men, even the most saintly, an instinctive shrinking from pain and suffering. "Oh, pray for me," said Latimer, in one of his letters from prison. "I sometimes shudder, and could creep into a mouse-hole, and then the Lord visits me again with his comforts." Another martyr, when being led to the flames, chancing to see his wife and children among the crowd, burst into tears, and said, "Ah, flesh! you would fain have your way; but I tell thee, by the grace of God, thou shalt not gain the victory."

And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.-2 COR. xii. 9.

If ye be reproached for the name of Christ, happy are ye; for the spirit of glory and of God resteth upon you: on their part he is evil spoken of, but on your part he is glorified.-1 PETER iv. 14.

April 23.

WE OFTEN MISJUDGE THE LORD AND HIS WAYS.

THE

HE Lord gives, and with very bounteous hand; but sometimes also he takes away, not health, or substance, or honour only, but our dearest loved ones. Such dealings are sorely perplexing, and, under their first pressure, even saints occasionally judge and speak very unadvisedly; forgetting that, however keen the stroke or deep the wound, it is a loving hand that has inflicted it, and with wise and gracious purpose.

This spirit needs to be carefully guarded against, par